Located in Eastern Africa, specifically in the north of Kenya and south of Ethiopia, the Turkana Basin has been the site of some of many astonishing and fortunate fossil discoveries that have given mankind a glimpse of its evolutionary ancestors. In fact the region proved so fruitful that the Leakey family of famed anthropologists raised funds to open Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), a special research institution devoted to studying the region's fossils and human evolution.

The Turkana basin is located in Eastern Africa. [Orig. Image Source: Google Maps]

Unearthed between 2007 and 2009, the find includes a face, a remarkably complete lower jaw, and part of a second lower jaw. Researchers believe that the fossils belong to not one, but two genus Homo species, which lived beside mankind's direct ancestor, Homo erectus.

II. Solving a Big Mystery

The find solves the mystery of KNM-ER 1470 -- the research designation given to a mysterious hominid skull fossil found four decades ago. The KNM-ER 1470 specimen featured a striking long, flat-face -- à la the pop culture depiction of an alien -- and a large brain size.

Researchers were unsure if the fossil was truly a different species or simply an unusual variant of Homo erectus.

Professor Meave Leakey enthuses, "For the past 40 years we have looked long and hard in the vast expanse of sediments around Lake Turkana for fossils that confirm the unique features of 1470's face and show us what its teeth and lower jaw would have looked like. At last we have some answers."

The new finds left little doubt among researchers that KNM-ER 1470 was indeed a separate species, and as an added surprise, they also indicated that one of the two specimens dug up during the various excavations was a second relative.

Comments Fred Spoor who led the analysis of the specimens unearthed by the Leakey team, "Combined, the three new fossils give a much clearer picture of what 1470 looked like. As a result, it is now clear that two species of early Homo lived alongside Homo erectus. The new fossils will greatly help in unraveling how our branch of human evolution first emerged and flourished almost two million years ago."

The KNM-ER 1470 look alike was found in 2008. Dubbed KNM-ER 62000, the individual is thought to have lived between 1.78 million and 1.95 million years ago (placing it in the early Pleistocene era), according to isotopic dating techniques.

The find included a complete skull with most of the cheek teeth present in the well-preserved upper jaw, allowing researchers to infer the shape of the lower jaw.

The KNM-ER 60000 jaw was the best lower jaw specimen recovered to date. [Image Source: Nature]

The skull allowed a 2007 partial lower jaw discovered by Robert Moru, dubbed KNM-ER 62003, to be confirmed as a member of the new species. Likewise, another jaw discovered in 2009 by Cyprian Nyete -- KNM-ER 60000 -- further enriched the picture. The 60000 specimen was the most complete hominid lower jaw ever discovered by researchers to date.

III. Much Work Remains

The discovery was truly a breathtaking process, beginning with geological analysis of probable sites for preserved remains, funded by the Leakey Foundation. With promising dig sites pinpointed, the National Geographic Society provided funding for the successful fieldwork, a half decade ago. And the Max Plank Society also chipped in, funding the laboratory work on the unearthed fossils.

The Leakey ladies with their outstanding find. [Image Source: National Geographic]

While the terrific find solves many unanswered questions about hominid evolution, it raises yet others. These species clearly have not survived to the present day, but it is unclear what their true fate is.

Recent sequencing of the Neanderthal genome revealed that humans surprisingly interbred with this co-existing species, allowing some of its genetic material to be preserved even after it was displaced by Homo sapiens and went extinct. Likewise, these new hominids could have interbred with Homo erectus, contributing scraps of valuable DNA that helped create the creature that we today know as a "human".